Special high density AMD compatible DDR2 RAM?

[Hi-Fi Man]

What's the deal with these DIMMs? Does anybody have any experience with these and if so, are they a good buy for a Phenom II X4 955 paired with an MCP78 chipset?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-8GB...592724?hash=item360f940494:g:ocAAAOSwA3dYZOHX

 

[chucky2]

I used something like that a while back on a 690G chipset board and they worked fine. Apparently, the AMD memory controller can handle the high density memory but the Intel (at least on desktop CPUs) cannot, that's why they're 'AMD only'.

 

[Elixer]

Fleabay and memory? Not a good mix.
I have seen way too many people buy RAM, and they end up having to buy new RAM, since those sticks have errors.

What specific motherboard you using?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've had mixed results. I bought some (unbranded) "high-density" 4GB DDR2 DIMMs, off of ebay from a China seller. (Or possibly, from a China seller from Newegg's Marketplace.)

The second batch, I purchased branded "high-density" off of a different ebay China seller, and those worked OK, after some trial-and-error, in a friend's AM2+ rig, with an Athlon II X4 640 CPU. (3.0GHz AM3 CPU)

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

I'm using an ASRock K10N78. Could you describe in depth what happened? I ended up buying some Xiede branded Hynix DIMMs from Amazon.de only €37 for 4 DIMMs. I'll report back once I get them.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Those are hit and miss whether they be laptop memory or desktop memory. Mostly miss if you ask me. You really want to see 16 memory modules on each side of a 4GB stick. High density usually means compatability issues.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

Those are hit and miss whether they be laptop memory or desktop memory. Mostly miss if you ask me. You really want to see 16 memory modules on each side of a 4GB stick. High density usually means compatability issues.

The ones I ended up getting don't actually have high density ICs. They have 16 ICs on each side. Would this be better?

 

[Hans Gruber]

The ones I ended up getting don't actually have high density ICs. They have 16 ICs on each side. Would this be better?

Yes the 16 memory chips on each side are low modules. That is what you want always when purchasing ram for compatabilty issues. Basically when you see sparse amount of memory modules, you know you are dealing with high density memory. You never hear of memory issues with the low density modules.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yes the 16 memory chips on each side are low modules.

See, that's interesting.


I bought some "AMD only" 4GB DDR2 sticks on ebay from a China seller, but they were branded sticks. I ended up with Hynix.

Anyways, they have 16 chips on each side.

I was suspecting that they were low-density, when they booted in my Gigabyte P35 S775 board, only, only 2GB capacity per DIMM was usable, due to chipset limitations.

I was under the understanding that high-density DDR2 won't even boot in Intel systems.

So I ended up selling it on here to someone, thinking that it could possibly be low-density.

He was using an AMD rig, but said that they wouldn't work for him (wouldn't mix with his existing RAM), so he sent them back, and I gave him a full refund.

He said that they were high-density.

But... with what you say, they should be low-density.

Hmm.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

See, that's interesting.


I bought some "AMD only" 4GB DDR2 sticks on ebay from a China seller, but they were branded sticks. I ended up with Hynix.

Anyways, they have 16 chips on each side.

I was suspecting that they were low-density, when they booted in my Gigabyte P35 S775 board, only, only 2GB capacity per DIMM was usable, due to chipset limitations.

I was under the understanding that high-density DDR2 won't even boot in Intel systems.

So I ended up selling it on here to someone, thinking that it could possibly be low-density.

He was using an AMD rig, but said that they wouldn't work for him (wouldn't mix with his existing RAM), so he sent them back, and I gave him a full refund.

He said that they were high-density.

But... with what you say, they should be low-density.

Hmm.

The DIMMs are high density but the ICs are low density, if that makes any sense. It would also make sense that these DIMMs might have issues with other types of DIMMs though. What CPU was that guy using?

 

[Hans Gruber]

I wasn't aware of 4GB DIMM existed in the desktop market before the move to DDR3 memory. I don't think Gskill, Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston or Crucial ever released any 4GB DDR2 modules. I know they have 4GB SO-DIMM memory that works for laptops and they are very pricey to this day. I was under the impression that those 4GB desktop modules you see are generic Chinese modules that are all high density modules and rarely are compatible with either Intel or AMD motherboards and CPU's. Basically an afterthought after both AMD and Intel moved to DDR3 memory.

The largest DDR2 memory sticks I have ever had for desktop memory was 2GB sticks. I ran an 8GB system with 2GBx4 sticks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't think Gskill, Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston or Crucial ever released any 4GB DDR2 modules.

They did, back in the day, but compatibility with systems was low (basically only P45 S775 rigs on the Intel side), and prices were sky-high, so in terms of the overall market, 4GB low-density DDR2 DIMMs were extremely niche.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The DIMMs are high density but the ICs are low density, if that makes any sense

No, that makes no sense. The density of a module, refers to the ICs used on the module, not the module itself.

I think that you are thinking of a high-capacity module, not high-density.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

No, that makes no sense. The density of a module, refers to the ICs used on the module, not the module itself.

I think that you are thinking of a high-capacity module, not high-density.

These 32 IC 4GiB DIMMs are of a high capacity however, the ICs themselves are of regular density. Whereas the 4GiB DIMMs with 16 ICs are high capacity still but the ICs are high density. I'm thinking the memory controller sees these differently hence compatibility issues.

 

[zir_blazer]

You should want to read this, including comments
http://www.os2museum.com/wp/spot-the-fakes/

 

[Branksy]

Hi there, Have just purchased the exact 4gb x 2 from ebay to upgrade old, but still proving useful K10N78, currently with 2 x 2GB DDR800 made by Vdata .
Get absolutely nothing from this new RAM. No BIOS screen. Swapped all RAM in various sockets, reset CMOS, nothing. The computer will boot with just 1 of the 2GB in slot 1 no problem. So i tried the new RAM individually, nothing... So I guess I return for a refund. Not sure why it wouldn't work as not expert at all in this.... Not sure if anybody has any other advice to try? So much cheaper than other RAM, seemed too good to be true - and was thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

Were the DIMM unbranded? Yeah, that's pretty-much crap memory. Out of the two different batches of 4GB DDR2 DIMMs I ordered from China sellers on ebay, the first batch were unbranded, and didn't work, but the second batch were branded with Hynix stickers (could easily have been fake), but those worked out OK.

I've heard that some of the unbranded DIMMs (at least in the case of DDR3), don't have the proper SPD info programmed, and sometimes you can get them to work, by plugging in a name-brand stick with good SPD info, and then using that to program the BIOS's memory-timings sections, in MANUAL mode, and then powering down and swapping sticks to the unbranded ones.

You might also be able to use Thaiphoon Burner to write to the SPD on the unbranded DIMMs, and clone the SPD from a working branded DIMM. I've never personally done that, though, but I think that it's possible.

 

[Branksy]

They appear branded as Samsung, almost ientical to images as shown at top of post, in my case description is for '4GB 2Rx4 PC2-6400P-555-12-LD' on one, the other is 4GB 2Rx4 PC2-6400P-666-12-LD. Is that 555 versus 666 something..? I didn't adjust voltages or anything in the Bios, left everything to Auto only. It's an old Mobo so I assume just incompatable although nothing obvious in the spec side of things. Oh, I did update the BIOS as that seemed to be suggested everywhere.

Thanks for info on SPD, although not sure that is the case here but certainly nothing diplayed at all.I read up on Thaiphoon burner and maybe that is something a local repair shop could help with if I continue on a mission to upgrade this RAM - once started on these things...!
In my case a UK seller (almost same price as China), no problem with service side of things. A categorised reason for returns + Freepost address label included - obviously very used to ram having to be returned.... I will contact them as per their advice slip instructions and report back.